Description
When many Americans hear that the US may go to war against another nation, they tend to believe there’s probably a good reason for it or that no viable alternatives exist or they don’t think about it at all. They trust their leaders to represent them and defend their values. They accept their leaders’ claims that war is to ensure their safety when others wish to harm them. The parties of war play on Americans’ basic values to bring them online. The media reassures them that the reasons for war are altruistic that Americans wish to spread democracy and allow others to adopt their way of life. But is this the case?
With 24 compelling illustrations, maps and graphs, this book is intended to serve as a tool for peace advocacy. Well known peace advocates respond to 19 of the most common illusions held by the American public which weaken their opposition to Washington’s wars.
NOAM CHOMSKY –
“Fifty years ago, President Eisenhower expressed his concern about the ‘campaign of hatred’ against us in the Arab world, for reasons that his administration knew were sound. By now, particularly during the Bush years, fear and often hatred of the US have spread widely and deepened. Even Europeans now rank the US as the greatest threat to world peace, far above China, Russia, Iran or North Korea. Americans should be deeply concerned about these developments, and the reasons for them. The questions raised in these essays are the pertinent ones, and the answers developed should be pondered carefully by those who are concerned with their country and— and given its immense power—the entire world and future generations.”
—NOAM CHOMSKY
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate –
“There are always alternatives to war, as the voices in this book testify. Let us listen to their voices of wisdom, and start to disarm our mindsets, talk to our enemies and solve our problems in a civilized way. We all know in today’s highly militarized and dangerous world, this nonviolent path to peace makes sense.”
—Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate